Iraq's Sadr back in Iran - US military sources

Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gone back to neighbouring Iran, US military sources in Baghdad said on Sunday. Earlier this year, US officials said the anti-American cleric was hiding in Iran to avoid a major security crackdown in Baghdad, although his aides say he never left Iraq.

"Our sources do show Moqtada in Iran," one US military source said, declining to speculate on why Sadr had gone back. A senior aide to Sadr denied the cleric had left Iraq. Sadr disappeared from public view shortly before the launch of a US-led offensive in Baghdad in February but re-emerged in the holy Shi'ite Iraqi city of Kufa on May 25. (Reuters)